Chapter 004: Whorl of Trouble
Whorl of Trouble (苦境の渦状, Kukyō no Kajō) is the fourth chapter of the Heartz Journey Arc in the Roads to Regional Saga. After training at his Uncle Rubin's gym and taking care of a few bandits in Julian, Lowen and Aeben heads back to Whorl for some rest and relaxation. Unknowing that Lowen's chance at a GIFL qualifier match is right around the corner. Part 1. Ever Legend The two brothers stared over the edge of the ferry and watched the water churn under it. People went about the deck, either conversation or simply staring as they did. Aeben rested his elbows on the rail with his chin on the back of his hands. He watched the blue water froth and turn white as it trailed off behind them. The smell of saltwater wafting under their nostrils. Lowen was looking towards the sky instead, watching a pair of seagulls flap their wings and soar through the air. Lowen reached into his bag and pulled a pack of peanuts out. He tore it open and began snacking on them, tossing the discarded shells overboard. Aeben turned to Lowen. "Hey, Lowen, how does it feel when you use it?" He asked. Aeben was referring to Lowen's Gear, Ever Legend, a power passed down through the Heartz Family. Their father had it, and his father's father had it, and his father's father's father had it. Now, Lowen is the possessor of the Ever Legend. Unfortunately, without his dad, its been a slow process to master. Uncle Rubin's Gear was completely different then Roy's, so Rubin was unable to provide any answers to how Lowen's Gear works. Lowen looked at Aeben and then back to the sky, bright blue with a warm sun shining down on him. "It's feeling like you can do anything." Lowen said softly as he thought about the power of his Gear. "Your body flowing with power, pushing you past your limits." He was talking about the amplified Drive power coursing through him, magnifying his strength, speed and durability. "Makes you feel invincible." "So how come you can't use it for long?" Aeben instantly regretted asking the question and shrunk into his shoulders. Lowen smirked and reassured his little brother that he wasn't offended. Even though Ever Legend amplified everything, Lowen't body couldn't handle the raw power for long periods of time. The strain on his muscles and bones proved too great and he was limited to only increasing certain physical traits at one time. He could be stronger, but not faster. Faster, but not tougher. And if he pushed himself past those boundaries, he could cause serious damage to his body. "Its a lot of power going through you at one time. If you're not careful, you could burn yourself out in a matter of seconds." Lowen turned around and leaned his back against the railing. "Dad never got the chance to teach me how to use it so its been a bit of crawl for me to figure out. But don't worry, when I master it, no one will be able to beat me and I'll win us enough money to pay for your medicine and get you better treatments." He smiled at his brother, inspiring hope in Aeben, and rubbed the top of his head, messing his hair. Aeben playfully batted his older brother's hand away and the two shared a laugh. Lowen's face softened, "Its funny. Sometimes, when I use Ever Legend, I can still feel Dad. Like he's right there with me." "He's watching over you." Aeben added. "I hope so." Lowen paused, a bit of sadness in his voice. "I miss him and Mom." "I miss them, too." Aeben said and his eyes began to water. He reached over to his brother and hugged him tightly around the waist. Lowen brought his arms over Aeben, as if he were shielding him from the world. Part 2. A Blessing in Disguise Later that afternoon, Lowen dropped Aeben home and set out to run some errands before his uncle came home for dinner. He waved goodbye to his brother and left Aeben to his homework while Lowen headed towards to the town center. He walked down the cobble stone road that led from his house on the hill to the market area. He checked in with his boss from work to see if was needed tomorrow morning. If not, he would train again. When he thought about training, Lowen raised a fist and stared at it, thinking about how he needs to gain better control of Ever Legend. His impatience took over and he once again thought how one more win and he would be in the Regionals. He couldn't help but fantasize about standing on a podium holding up the Regional Champion's belt overhead. It gleaming the light as thousands of people cheered his name. Just like his dad did years earlier. His dream was interrupted by a thud as a stocky older man bumped into him. He smelled of refried beans and alcohol, and could definitely use a bath. "Watch where you're going, punk." He said to Lowen over his shoulder as he continued walking. Lowen, known for his short temper, reacted a bit more dramatically than needed and stomped a foot down while pointing his finger at the man. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" He shot back. The man stopped and turned around, his eyes growing darker, his brows squeezed together tightly forming wrinkles on his forehead. "What did you say to me?" His first said in a low voice as he walked slowly towards Lowen. "You heard me." Lowen responded, antagonizing the other man. "Got a death wish, kid?" The man stopped walking just shy of two meters away from Lowen. The idea of actually getting into a confrontation with this man made Lowen rethink his responses. There was nothing to gain from fighting a grouchy old man. Besides, it would set a bad example to Aeben if he learned that his older brother was picking fights with random strangers. Lowen let a breath and sunk his shoulders. "Nothing, never mind. Sorry." Lowen apologized and began turning around to leave before the situation got any worse. "Didn't realize the Heartz Family had yellow pumping through their veins." The man's words stung Lowen and he stopped immediately. No one makes fun of my family, he thought to himself, and he could feel anger building up at him. He thought about turning around and smashing the man's face hard enough to break his jaw. Shut him up for good. He balled up his fist once again, his fingers and knuckles cracking from the strength. "Now, now. Is that any way to talk about our once great Roy Heartz?" A deep voice echoed off to Lowen's side. Lowen turned his head and stared at the darkness that filled the small alley in front of him. The sun was already beginning to set and light began to shrink over Whorl. Shadows were growing darker and in this alleyway the shadows completely obscured the form that produced the words. Lowen discerned it was male from his voice, deep and strong hinted that he was larger than himself. "Its been awhile since I've been back at Whorl." The voice said, stepping closer to Lowen. Lowen could sense that he was very tall by the range of his voice, his eyes begin to drift higher as the voice came to him. Suddenly, Lowen felt a sense of dread and anxiety, like pressure placed on the chest. He knew what this was. All skilled fighters are able to use Drive as a form of intimidation by releasing it small amounts. Its effect varies from fighter to fighter since their Drive Power is partially a manifestation of their personalities and intent. Some use Drive to produce psychological effects such heightened anxiety and stress, or waves of pressure that can smother a person and suffocate them, or in even some instances paralyze them and bring them to their knees. Those with higher level of Drive and extreme emotions can produce powerful waves of force that can damage the surrounding area. This Drive that Lowen was feeling wasn't that potent but definitely alluded to a strong presence. Bull stepped out from the shadows with an sinister grin, his towering height and massive build dwarfed Lowen as he walked up to the young fighter. Bull, known for his fiery temper, is the local town bully who uses his frame to intimidate locals and scare children. He's a vile man, arrogant and dangerous. Didn't help that he was also a Gear User and Ranked Fighter. This only further inflated his ego. "Bull." Lowen said with contempt. "I thought you left for the mainland." A few years back, sometime after Rob Heartz passed away, Bull left Whorl to secure wins for Regional qualification, much in the way Lowen wanted to. Lowen despised the notion that he and Bull shared a similar passion and quickly brushed the thought out of his mind. Bull merely chuckled and stopped within a few feet of Lowen. He looked down at the young fighter with fiery eyes, the kind that had violence behind them. "Not enough people to beat up." He eyed Lowen up and down. "But looks like its my lucky day." Lowen immediately clenched his fists, preparing himself for a confrontation. "Any time, Bull." Lowen stood his ground and eyed Bull fiercely. Bull remained silent but kept that twisted smile on his face. He turned to one side and began to walk slowly, circling Lowen as he did so. "See, I just need one more win and I'm off to the Regionals. One more win and I'm gonna be rich". "You mean we're gonna be rich, right Boss?" said the goon behind me. Bull shot a dirty look in the man's direction and he quickly recoiled, shrunk into his shoulders and stepped back with his head lowered and eyes pointed to the floor. Bull turned his attention back to Lowen. "I hear that you're in the GIFL, Lowen. Guess you're too much like your old man." Lowen's face grew hot. How dare he even mention my dad he thought to himself. "How about we see how much like him you really are?" Bull stopped directly in front of Lowen, completing a full circle around him. "Huh?" He leaned his face closer to Lowen, who remained silent but seething inside. "Think you have what it takes to be a Heartz?" Bull made sure to emphasize 'Heartz' in a sickly manner, as if just saying the word make him ill. Lowen wanted nothing more than to knock this guy out. To take one of his fists and plant it directly in between his eyes, feeling the bridge of Bull's nose fold and break under knuckles. To send him rocketing out of Whorl like cannonball. He just needed one more win, just like Bull, and with the town jerk a Ranked Fighter, he would get the points needed for Regionals. Without thinking a smile formed across Lowen's face. Bull took notice and his face scrunched like he just smelled something rotten. All his life, Bull used his size and strength to boss people around, and here was this young man half his height smiling up at him. You could hear a low growl forming in Bull's throat as frustration took root in him. "You think I'm playing?" Still smiling, Lowen simply looked at him with steely eyes and replied, "The fun hasn't even started." With that Lowen exerted a portion of his Drive in response to Bull's. It didn't appear visible at first, but it was unmistakably present. The other men surrounding Lowen stepped back in fear, sweat begin to run down the sides of their faces. "What do you guys think you're doing?" Bull lashed out at them. "Did you forget who I am?" The pavement beneath his feet cracked, his Drive rushing out of him like wind. It blew against Lowen, his hair whipping back. Lowen stood his ground, allowing his Drive to meet Bull's with equal force. Between two fighters, the level of their Drive could determine the outcome of any battle before it even started. It was the fighter's will, determination and desire to win manifested as energy to power them. When exerting it, like the way these two fighters were, it can appear as waves of pressure or force, even damage the surrounding area if strong enough. The two opposing sides will clash, trying to smother the other. If exerted against normal individuals without Drive, it can cause them to fall to the ground or render them unconscious. The men in Bull's group couldn't stand near the two while they were unleashing their Drives so they stepped far enough away where they wouldn't be affected but still see. Lowen clenched his fist tightly at his sides, waiting for Bull to make the first move. He maintained that smile on his face, not saying a word, letting his Drive do all the talking. Bull's face grew more angry, seeing Lowen stand up to him, stand in the presence of his Drive. "I've fought dozens of matches since I left Whorl. You think you know me?" He pointed a giant finger at Lowen. "You don't know anything." His voice growled. "Let me show you just how strong I got." With that, Bull brought his fists to his sides and began pushing his Drive Power higher, causing the ground to shake even more. Lowen could see the muscles of his exposed arms begin to swell, not unlike when he would use Ever Legend. "Enough!" Shouted Rubin. Both fighters dispersed their Drives, letting the ground settle once again. Behind Rubin were a series of volunteer officers who policed Whorl. They were ordinary citizens wearing the blue vests that represented their roles as enforcers. Rubin stared at Lowen with his massive arms across his chest. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Both of you." His voice loud and booming. "You know there's to be no fighting outside GIFL sanctioned arenas." Bull could hear the rest of his men run in the other direction, but Bull stood there. One side of his mouth pulled up, scowling at Rubin. "This doesn't concern you, old man." "If you're planning on fighting, outside of an arena, then it does concern me, Bull. Barely been here a day and you're already causing trouble?" Rubin responded. "Baby Heartz over there," Bull pointed a thumb at Lowen, "looked like he wanted to fight." He then grinned once more at Rubin. "Figured I would oblige him. But if you're worried about it being against the rules, why don't we make it an official match?" He asked, craning his head to Rubin then to Lowen. "Fine by me." Lowen snapped at Bull. "There you go, we got an official bout. So why don't you let us finish this?" Bull waved his hand in a manner like he was shoo-ing Rubin and the officers away. "Did you forget the rules, Bull? No matches after hours unless prearranged with the local GIFL representative." Rubin raised an arm and looked at his watch. "And it looks like you're out of luck for tonight." "Then tomorrow." Lowen interrupted. His fists were still tight. "We fight tomorrow and you'll just how strong the Heartz are." He raised a fist in declaration. Bull simply chuckled once more. "Fine, tomorrow it is. Noon. Don't be late, Heartz. Unless you ain't got the stones to face me." "Oh I got the stones, Bull." Lowen shot back. "After tomorrow, you'll be my number 30. And then I'll be the king of this island. People will know that I'm the strongest in Whorl." He pressed a thumb against his chest as he said that. "I'm gonna bury your family's name tomorrow, kid." Bull looked at Lowen, then at Rubin, and turned his back to both of them and walked away. Lowen could make out feint figures that looked like his crew hiding behind crates and around corners. Part 3. Real Strength Back at the Heartz home, Rubin is scolding Lowen in the kitchen for his behavior. Aeben, pretending to be doing his homework, is sitting at the dining room table with his head buried in a text book. His ears perked up listening intently at the two in the kitchen. "What did I tell you about your temper?" Rubin took straight up, hands on his hips, eyes locked on his older nephew. "He was talking trash about our family name. What would you have done?" Lowen tried to defend his actions through misguided bravado. He felt pained that his uncle is acting this way, frustrated that he didn't understand Lowen. "Nothing. And you know who else would've done nothing? You're dad." Rubin saw this worked up Lowen, who didn't want to believe his uncle. "You know why?" He waited for Lowen to respond but when he didn't Rubin continued, "Its because your dad knows when to pick a fight and when to walk away. Strength isn't measured by the amount you can lift and how hard you can hit. Its being man enough to walk away from a fight. Even if they're insulting our name." Lowen couldn't comprehend what his uncle was saying, unable to believe that his dad would allow someone to drag their family's name through the mud. "I'm not going to back away from a fight." "That's why you can't get your powers under control. Because of your temper. Your inability to focus." Rubin was sternly jabbing a finger in Lowen's direction. "What you and your dad could do with Ever Legend is just the tip of the iceberg. Roy, god rest his soul, isn't around to teach you how to use that power. That just leaves me and I unfortunately can't help you if aren't willing to listen." Lowen huffed and rolled his eyes, staring off to Aeben's direction, who was peeking up from his book but quickly buried his face once Aeben met eyes with Lowen. "Don't roll your eyes at me." Rubin's voice grew louder, something he seldom did and Lowen recoiled slightly from this. "You want to be the best, to do right by Aeben?" Rubin asked Lowen. Lowen responded rather meekly, in contrast to his arrogance at times. "Yes." He said almost child-like. "Then you need to listen. Get your temper under control. Even Legend is a deep well of unlimited power. You can't access it without that control, that focus." Rubin placed his hand on the kitchen counter and leaned on it. "You ready to do that?" Lowen didn't say a word. He simply nodded, folding his arms across his chest in frustration, but relented in giving his uncle any attitude. Rubin's eyes grew sharp when his nephew didn't respond, though he decided it was the best response he was going to get out of Lowen at this time. Rubin changed the subject, "First thing's first. Bull." "I'm putting him down." Lowen added immediately. "Rubin put a hand up. "Temper." He said and Lowen leaned back against the refrigerator, crossing his arms tighter. "We haven't seen Bull in a few years. I need to check the data logs for his ranking. Since we don't have any time to properly train for the match, we have to go by the data for now." Rubin walked over to his desk on the far side of the living room and brought up a display on the wall. A keypad rested on the flat wooden surface. He brought up the GIFL data log and typed in Bull's name in the search field. A giant profile picture of Bull's face came up. Lowen's blood immediately began to boil again. Next to his picture were general statistics: physical descriptions, charts and bars that measured fighting ability, matches won and loss, and his current ranking: D-Ranking. Lowen flashed a smile across a face. With Bull being a rank lower than his, a fight against Bull will be easy. "Can you pull up my stats?" Lowen asked his uncle and Rubin pulled up his data and placed it side by side with Bull's. Lowen and Rubin compared the two combatants. Based on previous matches, Lowen could see that his speed and agility were greater than Bull's, but Bull had a slightly higher strength and durability level. Lowen shook his head in disagreement. "No way is he stronger than me. I've been training non-stop for the last year. Are they factoring in his Gear?" Lowen was talking about Bull's Gear, Matador, an enhancer type that increases his strength. He hadn't seen it first hand, and the logs of Bull's matches were against very weak opponents where Bull didn't need to use his Gear. Rubin corrected Lowen, "No, that's his base. You know that Gear powers fluctuate. Its hard to accurately measure their output. From what I remember, Matador only increased his strength and resilience to physical damage. But given his absence, the information may not be up to date. So our game plan should be to focus on speed attacks, and use your greater agility to take him out. Don't face him head on in strength when we don't know what his true power is." "Pfft." Lowen dismissed the warning. "Please. I've been training Strong Heartz. I can take Bull. No problem." "Lowen," Rubin turned to face his nephew. "What did I tell you about real strength? Raw power doesn't make a great fighter. A great fighter knows how to use their head, analyze their opponent, follow their moves, find their weaknesses. Its not just punching your way through it." He pointed at the information at the screen. "You need to use this information to your advantage. That's what its there for." Lowen looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "How's your timing between forms?" "30 seconds for full forms with a 10 second cool down between." Lowen responded, shuffling his feet. "But I've been able to reduce the cool down time to 2 seconds if I use it in small bursts." "Hmm, we need to get those full forms to last longer. Need to work on your stamina. After your fight tomorrow, we need to train in the cave. I want a full minute by the time you go to Regionals. For now, you need to get some rest for tomorrow." Rubin turned to Aeben. "You, too, Aeben. Time for bed." Later that night, Lowen tucked in Aeben. "You finish your homework?" He asked. "Yup." Aeben said with a smile, settling himself in bed. Lowen wished him a good night and went to turn off his lamp. "Are you gonna win tomorrow?" Aeben asked with wide eyes, blanket pulled over his mouth and nose. Lowen paused and sat back on the edge of the bed. "What kind of question was that? Of course I am. Its gonna be a piece of cake." He smiled at his little brother. "Now go to sleep." He ruffled Aeben's hair on the top of his head and pulled the cord to turn off the lamp. Lowen closed the door and headed upstairs to his room and kicked off his boots. He flung himself onto his hammock, one leg hanging over the side and slowly slung from side to side. He stared out the large open window towards the moon, nibbling on his thumb nail and thunk to himself. 'Just one more win and I'm in the Regional Qualifier. One more win and I'm one step closer to getting Aeben better medicine. One more win and I'm on my way to becoming champion.' He thought about his dad and his match against Tiger Monroe, seeing his dad fight at the Julian arena. Lowen then thought about becoming Regional Champion and what that would mean. He would earn enough points to get in The Circuit, the highest league in the GIFL where a fighter would travel all over BattleScar and earn the right to face the current GIFL Champion, Gideon Gold. As cocky as Lowen can be, he knew that he was no where near the level of the God of Fighting. With his golden hair, Gideon is a part of the most powerful House in BattleScar, House Gold, where his father Othniel Gold is the President of Paramount. Lowen was trapped thinking too far ahead in the future and not in the present. Before he could get that far he would need to take out Bull. For the first time, he doubted himself. All his talking, his bravado, and now he's staring blankly at the moon wondering if that one point he needs would escape him. "I can do this." Lowen whispered to himself and closed his eyes. Chapter Details Characters *Lowen Heartz *Aeben Heartz *Rubin Heartz *Bull *Gideon Gold (Mentioned) Gears Used None. Techniques Used None. Abilities Used *Drive